Aneurism clamp

ABSTRACT

A surgical clamp for application to the neck of an aneurism to clamp the walls thereof to shut off blood flow or seepage from an artery on which such aneurism has formed, the clamp having oppositely, longitudinally concavely bowed, and resiliently biased clamping arms that are also transversely, oppositely convexly bowed, and the opposed faces of said arms being provided with a multiplicity of depressions that are defined by intersecting portions of said opposed faces.

United States Patent James J. Cogley [72] Inventor 3,349,771 10/1967Baer 128/346 X 2214 Euciid Ave, Santa Monica, Calif. 1,844,774 2/ l 932Locki 24/253 90402 2,013,269 9/1935 Ginsburg.. 128/346 [21] Appl. No.735,355 2,478,595 8/1949 Richter 2. 128/321 [22] Filed June 7,19682,553,070 5/1951 Van Megroot 24/253 X [45] Patented Aug. 10,19712,629,915 3/ 1953 Weiss 24/253 2,729,876 1/1956 l-lagemann 27/243,435,823 4/1969 Edwards 128/346 X 1 ANEURISM CLAMP 3,446,212 5/1969 1.6Roy 128/325 3 Cums FOREIGN PATENTS [52] US. Cl 128/346, 5 458 1 1936 Gt8 n 28 337 24/253, 128/326 I n m I 51 1 Int. Cl. A6112 17/12Examiner-Dalton Truluck 50 1 16111 Search 128/346, "y Jackman ABSTRACT:A surgical clamp for application to the neck of defences cited ananeurism to clamp the walls thereof to shut off blood flow UNITED STATESPATENTS or seepage from an artery on which such aneurism has formed,2,064,986 12/ 1936 Mezz 128/346 X the clamp having oppositely,longitudinally concavely bowed, 2,626,608 1] 1953 Garland [28/346 andresiliently biased clamping anns that are also transversely, 2,743,7265/1956 Grieshaber. 128/321 oppositely convexly bowed, and the opposedfaces of said 3,302,648 2/ 1967 Nelson 1281325 arms being provided witha multiplicity of depressions that are 3,326,217 6/1967 Kerr 128/325defined by intersecting portions of said opposed faces.

If 1 1t 15 i\ I Z0 2- 12 Z6 Z9 1 k X 15 ANEURISM CLAMP BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION Intracranial operative procedures for clamping aneurisms, andother like procedures, require the implantation of the clamps inoperative fields that are difficult of access and of such extremedelicacy that fatal damage to the walls of the arteries having suchabnormal blood-filled dilations may result. An object of the presentinvention is to provide a clamp that renders the surgical aspects ofaneurismal treatment, as hereinbefore characterized, not only morefacile to perform but also greatly improves the post operative welfareand longterm condition of the patient.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that arepositive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a workingposition and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture,relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novelcombination and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear inthe course of the following description, which is based on theaccompanying drawings. However, said drawings merely show, and thefollowing description merely describes, one embodiment of the presentinvention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present aneurism clamp comprises,generally, a pair of clamping members 10 connected by a pivot pin 11 andbiased by a coil spring 12 to clamping position. Said members 10, on oneside of the pin 11, are each provided with an operating arm having ahook end 13 affording nonslip, positive engagement with and control byan applicator instrument for the clamp, and on the opposite side, with aclamping arm 14 formed to provide firm but resilient engagement with ananeurism, nontearing engagement at the origin of the neck of ananeurism, and nonabrading clamping engagement with the wall ofananeurism, all for the purpose of providing for a longlasting andmedically and surgically effective means for rendering such abnormalarterial growths ineffectual while the clamp remains implanted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, like referencecharacters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a side view of one form of aneurism clamp according to theinvention and shown in normally closed position.

FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a view, similar to FIG. 1, showing the clamp fully en.

FIG. 4 is an end view as seen from the left of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view as taken on the line 5-5 ofFIG. 1, showing the clamp engaged with an aneurism.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are plan views of modifications.

FIG. 8 is a side view of another modification and shown in the form ofan artery clip.

FIG. 9 is a plan view thereof.

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 8, showing the clip fully opened forapplication to an artery.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS the members 10 are aligned. Theends of the pin are staked or flattened over the outer faces of theouter ears. Said ears are bent from flat arm portions l6 of the arms 10which span across a space 17 in which the coils 18 of spring 12 reside.

Each hook end 13 is formed as a concavity of generally V- shaped formand extends from the mentioned flat portions 16. Said hooks are inopposed relation, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, their apices contactingeach other when the hooked ends 13 or proximal end of the clamp arepressed toward each other to cause the arm ends to spread apart. Eachsaid end is formed with a notch 19 to receive an end 20 of the spring,said notches and spring ends being offset, as best seen in FIG. 4. Thespring ends 20 are normally biased apart to move the arms 14 to closedposition, as in FIG. 1.

The applier 21 shown in FIG. 4 in dot-dash lines indicates the manner ofuse of the hook ends 13, the portion 22 of the applier being engaged inthe concavities of said ends, and the intumed portions 23 preventingaccidental slippage of the applier from the clamp, which can beseparated only by spreading apart the portions of the applier bysqueezing the anns 24 together.

The arms 14 on members 10 are preferably oppositely longitudinally bowedat their intermediate portions 25, the same defining an open area 26between them when the outer or distal ends 27 thereof are in contact, asin FIG. I, under normal bias ofthe spring ends 20 on the hook ends 13 ofmembers 10.

In addition to said arms being bowed, the same are transversely curved,as at 28, so only the middle longitudinal portions of the distal ends 27are in contact with each other, as in FIG. 1, and the middlelongitudinal portions of the bowed portions are closer together than arethe longitudinal edges 29 of said bowed portions, as in FIGS. 1 and 5.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the inner faces ofthe arms 14, at least ontheir bowed portions 25 and contacting ends 27, are provided with convexsurfaces 30 that are devised to have firm yet nonabrading andnonclamping engagement with the outer wall of an aneurism. Said surfacesare provided with multiplicity of depressions 31 that are defined byintersecting portions of said surfaces. It will be noted also that thedepressions 31 are in regularly spaced longitudinal and transversearrangement, but at an angle to the longitudinal extent of the surfaces30, as in FIG. 2. One or both arms may have the described arrangement ofthe depressions 31, but not in matched arrangement-rather, in oppositelyangled arrangement. Thus, the

outer wall of an aneurism, clamped by the surfaces 30 of arms 14, willhave a nonabrading or cutting engagement with said walls, since oppositeportions of said walls are differently clamped by opposite portions ofthe surfaces 30.

Particular attention is directed to FIG. 5, which shows theabove-described relationship of the wall-clamping means of the arms 14.Said view also shows how the transverse convexities 28 of the arms causethe same to conform to the neck 32 of the aneurism, preventing the samefrom being pinched and causing fatal rupture of the wall of said neck.It will be seen from FIG. 5 how the artery 33 is cleanly and smoothlyformed and retained in its normal blood-passing form, and how theaneurism 34 is isolated from the artery by the above-described implantedclamp.

The approximate included angle of 60 of the arm portion and theapproximate ratio of one to four between the arm portions 16 and thearms 14, enable the latter to open, as in FIG. 3, to provide ananeurism-accommodating size as great as 9 mm. for clamps having arms 14having a length of 8 mm. In providing a range of clamp sizes fordifferent conditions, the same size for the operative end may beretained while varying the clamping arm end size in a range betweenabout 5 mm. and 12 mm. The larger the arm end, the greater will be theopening characteristic of the arms.

Since aneurisms may occur in unpredictable places, a straight-armedclamp may not be suited because of space requirements. Therefore,without otherwise altering the above-described clamp, the same, as shownin FIGS. 6 and 7, may have arms l4a that are offset, or arms [4b thatare curved out of the described straight line form. These offset andcurved arms may be varied between flatter and fuller changes of angle.

FIGSv 8 and 9 show the hook end features of the clamp applied to a clampor clip for encircling an artery to keep it functioning efficiently as ablood-conducting vessel. This has oppositely curved, semicircular arms14c which, because of the wide opening angle of the hook ends 13, may bespread apart to enable facile application thereof to an artery. A liner35, of Teflon fabric or the like noneroding material, is provided tokeep the wall of the artery out of direct metallic engagement with saidanns 141:.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is nowcontemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, theconstructions are, of course, subject to modification without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desiredto restrict the invention to the particular forms of constructionillustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim and desire to besecured by Letters Patent is:

1. An aneurism clamp comprising:

a. a pair of clamping arms having proximal and distal ends and havingopposed clamping faces, said arms being pivoted intermediate said endsand adapted for clamping engagement with the outer surfaces of the wallsof an arterial vessel;

b. spring means resiliently biasing said arms into clamping position;

0. the distal ends and intermediate portions of said arms being curvedtransversely to provide a convex inner surface throughout the lengththereof and said arms being bowed outwardly and oppositely intermediatetheir ends providing a space therebetween, the distal ends of each ofthe arms being in contact when the clamp is closed, the intermediatespaced portions providing aneurism-engaging portions;

d. an operating arm on the proximal end of each clamping member, aportion of the spring means engaging each operating arm; and

e. a hook on the end of each operating member, said hooks beingoppositely formed to provide means for reception of an applierinstrument to spread the clamping arms to receive the neck of ananeurism.

2. A surgical clamp as defined in claim 1, wherein each clamping face isprovided with a plurality of cavities into which portions of the vesselwall are forced.

3. A surgical clamp as defined in claim 1, wherein the spring means is acoil spring coaxial with the pivot axis of said arms nd having oppositeends bearing against said operating members.

1. An aneurism clamp comprising: a. a pair of clamping arms havingproximal and distal ends and having opposed clamping faces, said armsbeing pivoted intermediate said ends and adapted for clamping engagementwith the outer surfaces of the walls of an arterial vessel; b. springmeans resiliently biasing said arms into clamping position; c. thedistal ends and intermediate portions of said arms being curvedtransversely to provide a convex inner surface throughout the lengththereof and said arms being bowed outwardly and oppositely intermediatetheir ends providing a space therebetween, the distal ends of each ofthe arms being in contact when the clamp is closed, the intermediatespaced portions providing aneurism-engaging portions; d. an operatingarm on the proximal end of each clamping member, a portion of the springmeans engaging each operating arm; and e. a hook on the end of eachoperating member, said hooks being oppositely formed to provide meansfor reception of an applier instrument to spread the clamping arms toreceive the neck of an aneurism.
 2. A surgical clamp as defined in claim1, wherein each clamping face is provided with a plurality of cavitiesinto which portions of the vessel wall are forced.
 3. A surgical clampas defined in claim 1, wherein the spring means is a coil spring coaxialwith the pivot axis of said arms and having opposite ends bearingagainst said operating members.